Outa raises concerns over fresh delays in new driving licence card tender

Plans for South Africa's new driving licence card appear to have hit a snag, with the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) raising concerns over fresh delays in the tender process, BusinessTech reports.

The latest tender process began in February 2026, with applications closing in March. In the meantime, the Department of Home Affairs has been assisting the Department of Transport in producing licence cards to help address the renewal backlog. However, since applications closed, the department has not announced preferred bidders or provided further updates.

Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said the process appears to have hit a snag, and that the organisation believes the tender being handled by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) and the Department of Transport has been delayed because officials were unable to award it to a successful bidder by 31 July. 

This, he said, means the department will need qualifying tenderers to agree to hold their prices for several more months, which he described as suggestive of inefficiency in the process and a serious concern.

Duvenage noted that the current process resembles previous tender rounds that were ultimately cancelled, and said Outa has approached the DLCA's CEO seeking clarity on the delays. He warned that further hold-ups in rolling out the new cards could also affect the licence validity extension recently approved by Cabinet, though he remains hopeful the extension will be fast-tracked even if it ends up linked to the new card's rollout. 

BusinessTech said it had approached the department for comment on both the tender and the validity extension but had not received a response by time of publication.

South Africa's current licence card has been in use since 1998, originally printed under a joint venture with Provida whose contract, meant to run five years, was extended unlawfully for far longer. Production was handed to the DLCA in 2015, which has continued using the same ageing printing machine, leading to repeated breakdowns and renewal backlogs.

Then-transport minister Fikile Mbalula announced plans for a new, more secure card in 2022, with Cabinet approving the prototype design that year and a procurement process beginning shortly after. That process has been troubled from the outset: French firm Idemia initially won the tender, but Outa flagged irregularities – including inflated costs – in the 2024 award, which was subsequently cancelled and republished.

SOURCE LINK: https://businesstech.co.za/news/motoring/868983/new-driving-licence-cards-for-south-africa-hit-a-roadblock/